Financial Analysis: ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK) vs. LadRx (OTCMKTS:CYTR)

LadRx (OTCMKTS:CYTR) and ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares LadRx and ProKidney’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LadRx	N/A	-67.61%	-45.39%
ProKidney	N/A	N/A	-8.80%

Volatility & Risk

LadRx has a beta of 1.96, indicating that its stock price is 96% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ProKidney has a beta of 1.1, indicating that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.1% of LadRx shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.6% of ProKidney shares are held by institutional investors. 12.8% of LadRx shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 41.5% of ProKidney shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for LadRx and ProKidney, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LadRx	0	0	0	0	N/A
ProKidney	0	2	2	0	2.50

ProKidney has a consensus price target of $4.50, indicating a potential upside of 141.94%.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares LadRx and ProKidney”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LadRx	N/A	N/A	-$6.70 million	($0.15)	N/A
ProKidney	N/A	N/A	-$35.47 million	($0.57)	-3.26

ProKidney is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than LadRx, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

ProKidney beats LadRx on 5 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About LadRx

LadRx Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the discovery and development of therapeutics to treat patients with cancer. The company's advanced drug conjugate, aldoxorubicin that is in late-stage clinical trials is a version of anti-cancer drug doxorubicin. Its pre-clinical therapeutics comprise linker activated drug releases 7, 8, 9, and 10 targeted against cancer The company was formerly known as CytRx Corporation and changed its name to LadRx Corporation in September 2022. LadRx Corporation was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

About ProKidney

ProKidney Corp., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, provides transformative proprietary cell therapy platform for treating various chronic kidney diseases in the United States. The company's lead product is Renal Autologous Cell Therapy (REACT), an autologous homologous cell admixture, which has completed Phase I clinical trial for REACT in patients with congenital anomalies of the Kidney and Urinary Tract (CAKUT), as well as in Phase III and Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of moderate to severe diabetic kidney disease. ProKidney Corp. founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.